


anti-freeze

by akatharsia (gyuldaengie)



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, M/M, University AU, and that's on sexual tension, dramione rivalry but make it minwon, get it cos he's a sunshine?, it's /always/ sexual tension, jk this isn't greek myth, mingyu is apollo's son, wonwoo a whole ass jack frost but he's not immune to the cold, wonwoo needs mingyu's body heat to live
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:28:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26107948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gyuldaengie/pseuds/akatharsia
Summary: Wherein Wonwoo is freezing cold and Mingyu's body is the only thing that can keep him warminspired by the BL 'Hold Me Tight'
Relationships: Jeon Wonwoo/Kim Mingyu
Comments: 9
Kudos: 134





	1. the situation

Things would have been easier for Wonwoo if life was fair.

To begin with, he wouldn't have to be feeling _arctic_ all the time if life didn't decide to fuck with him and make him cold-blooded—quite literally. Or, if life was being just a tad bit evil but still overall merciful, it would've made him miserable but with the consolation of offering him the solution to all his woes and sufferings on a silver platter, wrapped in a big red bow, just within an arm's reach.

But no, life is too big of a motherfucker to do either.

It'd fucked Wonwoo by making him this freezing popsicle who can't _melt_ , much less feel warmth or heat and who, despite the sweltering summer sun beating down on his three layers of clothing, could not, for the life of him, maintain a temperature above 30 degrees celsius. All this, while the solution to his life crisis masquerades right in front of him, walking on two legs and maintaining at least a ten feet radius away from him.

When Wonwoo was young, he'd always just thought he was sick. Now, he was pretty sure he was cursed: always feeling cold all over like it's a perpetual ice age to be living inside his body, and the only antidote is a boy who hates his guts, for reasons Wonwoo can't even fucking _remember_.

It started as a good ol' academic rivalry, but it's escalated beyond _that_ if the way they treat each other now is any indication to go by:

Kim Mingyu is the definition of sunshine and it's _comic_ how his smile and his skin and his personality is the very depiction of the thing that could cure Wonwoo, _except_ , he is all but that towards Wonwoo, himself. Rather than fresh from the dryer blanket or puff of steam rising up from a cup of hot coco warm, Mingyu towards Wonwoo is more like angry, sloshing lava and steaming hot magma—if either of them were several hundred degrees below zero.

Like ice to fire, being in the same vicinity as each other inevitably ends up with them just crashing and burning and sucking out all the oxygen in the room with how much they _hate_ each other.

And it's pathetic, really, the way Wonwoo needs Mingyu to feel the warmth and the heat that will keep him alive when all Mingyu's ever done is treat Wonwoo with a certain coldness the latter is no longer unfamiliar with. If Wonwoo doesn't already feel like Captain America during his days under the ice, he was pretty sure Mingyu's arctic glares would freeze him to death. Never mind that Wonwoo's already on borrowed time, and every day, the ice inside his body just manages to freeze half of his organs into semi-functionality.

If he can't do anything about the way Mingyu treats him, heck, even with just the way he looks at him, he might as well forget about his remaining days left and just die then and there.


	2. D-267

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You were right, anyway," Wonwoo says, sighing as the blush subsides leaving nothing but cold in its wake. "I can't escape the inevitable. I'll always have to face death by air-conditioning unit."

**267 days**

The weather forecast had said it would be sunny.

Well, _fuck that_ , Wonwoo feels like Jack Frost has just descended from the land of mythical creatures and are blowing puffs of icy wind on his ear.

"Here," Soonyoung nudges at him, pulling out a black hoodie from inside his backpack to hand to Wonwoo. "You look colder than usual, do you need some more? I could run by the dorms to get some if you want."

"It's fine, I'm fine," Wonwoo mutters gratefully. He's really not but he wasn't about to say _that_ . Twenty-one years of living in a never-ending blizzard made sure that he was at least _a little_ tolerant of a little shivering. _A little_. "I feel like frozen meat but I'll live."

"Did you bring enough hot packs?" Junhui asks, already rummaging through his gym bag for the stash he keeps exclusively in response to Wonwoo's disposition. He's had eighteen years of practice, after all. "Here, I sat on that to make it even warmer."

And it's a testament to how long they've been together that Wonwoo can even pretend he's deliberating, silently debating whether or not it was worth it to accept something that has made contact with his childhood's best friend's nonexistent ass to save himself from freezing to death, without Jun getting offended, the concern evident on his face like a 5-minute satisfying video.

"I'm kidding," Jun says, flashing his best friend a stern look when he doesn't take the item from his hand. "Take it now before you become a popsicle."

"I'm not sure I put my 100% faith in that," Wonwoo murmurs in reply, but sneaks the palm-sized rectangular things inside the hoodie he's pulled on, anyway, strategically placing them near his ears (which tend to feel colder than most of his face).

"Did you take your temperature?" Jihoon asks, plopping down the mowed grass beside him and slapping a hand to his forehead like he's swatting a fly, making Wonwoo wince.

"27.3 degrees. But that was this morning. Feels like I lost even more body heat after that, though."

"Fucking hell, did you just say _27.3 degrees?_ Shouldn't you just stay home?" Jihoon whisper-shouts, aghast. "Any lower and you might as well be a cadaver."

"Ha. Ha. Very funny," Wonwoo snorts and squeezes himself into Jihoon who begrudgingly opens one of his arms to accommodate him. "The walking should supposedly help with the heat. Or so science says. I'm fine." _I still have 267 days left_ . _I won't die today just yet._

He mimics Jihoon as he tilts his face up to the sun and squints because it _is_ indeed sunny, after all, and it's just Wonwoo and his godforsaken body who can't feel it, and sighs.

"Well," Jihoon says. "It's almost summer now so the weather should help with your condition a bit."

"It's also exam season," Soonyoung interjects, nonchalantly, as he and Jun come back from the vending machine, drinks on hand. "I hate to be the one who says this but that cancels out the fact that it's summer. Wonwoo wouldn't willingly stay away from the library even if he suddenly starts getting frostbite in the middle of studying Sociology."

And it's _mind-boggling_ that too much blood in the face makes other people feel hot because Wonwoo doesn't know what _that_ feels like. Sure, he blushes but his whole face feels like it's been exposed to sub-freezing temperatures, his cheeks suffering extreme hypothermia. "You make me sound like I have skewed priorities. I do _want_ to live, y'know?"

"But did he lie though?" Jun asks, joining the cuddle pile. "He's not even trying to sound condescending… just simply stating a fact."

"And that's somehow even worse than if he was trying to be insulting," Jihoon adds.

"Sorry," Soonyoung mumbles, frowning, ever the eloquent friend. (Note the sarcasm.) "I don't mean anything by it."

"Not at all. You were right, anyway," Wonwoo says, sighing as the blush subsides leaving nothing but cold in its wake. "I can't escape the inevitable. I'll always have to face death by air-conditioning unit."

It's an inside joke that's spanned a total of two semesters, and the dark humor has yet to die down, making Jihoon snicker. "That's literally the lamest way to die. Even lamer because we all know you'd ace your hard as fuck exams and still, it's not the studying that will kill you but fucking _air_."

"You could die of choking or drowning, and it's the same concept," Wonwoo retorts.

"Good point."


	3. D-258

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Wonwoo hyung."
> 
> "Eunwoo," he greets calmly, and against his better judgement, decides to acknowledge the boy trailing behind him, if only to acknowledge the prickling sensation on his fingers which indicated, for the lack of a better term, thermal equilibrium. "And friend."

**258 days**

Wonwoo's too busy trying to stay alive that he forgets that exam season also meant seeing a face in the library he'd rather not see for the rest of his remaining days on Earth. It throws him back to a time when he didn't have to worry about spontaneously combusting from how frozen his guts are and how hot his blood rises to boiling point just from seeing said face.

Because during those times, Wonwoo's yet to realize Mingyu was the end-all be-all of his suffering.

The first day he’d come across Mingyu in the university hallways was when he completely understood what ' _ignorance is bliss_ ' truly meant, seeing as ever since he’d brush passed the tail ends of his flannel button down on the way to World Lit, Wonwoo has somehow transformed into a ticking time bomb: his body temperature dropping way faster than was necessary with a live countdown of his remaining days to live appearing on the inside of his arm to match.

And it’s unfortunate, really, because he remembers seeing Mingyu during Freshman Orientation, three tents away; remembers how awe-struck he had been at seeing Mingyu glow from the kiss of the sun on his skin as his friends were browsing for clubs to join; remembers how warm he’d looked and, surprisingly, how warm just looking at him alone had made Wonwoo feel, only to later realize that that’s about everything that’s warm about him.

It would’ve been a blessing to meet the boy who could save him from this eternal winter had they not been initially pit against each other in a petty academic rivalry which somehow, for some reason, quickly turned everything sour between them, rapidly driving a rift between Wonwoo and his only chance of ever feeling _heat_. That rift then went on to become a tension-filled bubble threatening to burst whenever they were in close proximity with each other; an exchange of unwarranted hostility in the form of dagger-like stares, cold shoulders, disgustingly rude side comments and snarky remarks, sometimes even below the belt insults that Wonwoo wouldn’t have minded, except, he’d actually wanted to be Mingyu’s friend.

W _ant_ ed.

And the worse thing about it all is the fact that he seemed to only share this hostility with the man himself. His entourage, as is the case at this very moment, is another matter, entirely.

"Wonwoo hyung."

"Eunwoo," he greets calmly, and against his better judgement, decides to acknowledge the boy trailing behind him, if only to acknowledge the prickling sensation on his fingers which indicated, for the lack of a better term, _thermal equilibrium_. "And friend."

Wonwoo tells himself that it’s only because of that. That it’s not even a proper acknowledgement because that’s as far as his fairly decent personality would go so as to admit that his body recognizes Mingyu and the heat that radiates off of him. The _only_ heat Wonwoo is able to feel.

"Here to study?" Eunwoo asks, conversationally.

And even with his mind half preoccupied trying not to reach for the only available heat source, Wonwoo finds it weird to be having this conversation in the first place when he doesn't particularly remember ever being acquaintances with Mingyu's friends. They're all very cordial and annoyingly persistent whenever they bump into each other as though they're all too aware of Wonwoo's immense hatred for small talks which makes him increasingly suspicious of the caveat attached.

He hears, just barely, Mingyu retort with a: _Well, duh. That's what school libraries are for?_ and if he was anyone else _but_ Mingyu, Wonwoo probably would've smiled.

But, he is who he is and Wonwoo isn't going to pay him any more mind than he'd already willingly but hesitantly given. "Yeah," he replies, stoically. "Gotta make sure I keep my rank in class."

And Wonwoo swears he isn't _looking_ at Mingyu, watching him from his peripheral for any sign of reaction. He just manages to catch the other boy rolling his eyes at the back, tapping his finger impatiently on the strap of his backpack, _annoyed_ , by chance. (After all, if there was any reason Wonwoo's eyes would even be drawn to Mingyu's, it’s because he's wondering how it would look to have the life snuffed out of them… _metaphorically_.)

It minutely satisfies Wonwoo that he's the reason for this annoyance, but he only lets himself bask in it for a couple of seconds before prompting Eunwoo, who was in fact the person who called his attention and who now seems to have sensed that he wasn't really being paid any attention to, about what he needed from him.

"Can I help you with anything?" Wonwoo asks.

"Not really, hyung," Eunwoo replies brightly, probably feeling relieved that he's finally allowed to talk and disrupt the electrically charged atmosphere. "I was just going to invite you to the end-of-the-semester party. You aren't active on the university board so I thought I'd personally extend the invite."

Mingyu scoffs and Wonwoo ignores him. "I'm not really a party person."

"You don't have to be. You can just chill by the pool with your friends," Eunwoo asserts. "They're invited too, by the way. It's open to everyone."

_Tsk. Even more reason not to go._

"Right, I'll let them know," Wonwoo says, instead. You know, just to end the conversation.

"Great! I'll text you the details. See you around, hyung!"

"See you," Wonwoo murmurs, and then the prickly, static feeling that burns from Wonwoo’s fingertips like frostbite intensifies, running up his arm and leaving a trail of goosebumps in its wake as Mingyu passes him by.

It wasn’t until he was watching the two depart out of the library, catching the tail end of Mingyu's: _You're going to_ text _him?_ How _do you even have his number?_ that it occurred to him that, _yep!_ He’s freezing alright, the sudden change of body temperature making him dizzy with shock.

Wonwoo has no time to pay attention to Eunwoo's reply as his limbs begin to freeze and lock, rooting him in place _right underneath the_ goddamned _air-conditioning unit_.

_Fuck._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you guys so much for giving this some love and i hope it turns out the way you guys expect it would :"">
> 
> the story isn't completely fleshed out yet so updates will definitely be sporadic if i decide to continue,,, nevertheless, i hope you enjoy! :--)))

**Author's Note:**

> this has been in my drafts for so long and i originally wanted to publish it as a long ass one-shot but i wasn't getting anywhere so i thought i might as well post it :--)) i hope you enjoy!


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